


Basilisk's Day Off

by Distraktion



Category: Parahumans Series - Wildbow
Genre: Gen, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-13
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-21 16:47:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30024804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Distraktion/pseuds/Distraktion
Summary: After a pretty stressful couple of months, Faultline's Crew heads out of Brockton on a special mission. When they stop for a quick job on the way, Newter loses his temper and realizes that his team has grown...and that they're more than just a team to him. Some may see him as monster, but those closest to him see him as something far more majestic.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	Basilisk's Day Off

“Gregor, if I die in here, I want you to have my collection of Protectorate shot glasses.” Newter groaned, sliding down the wall and collapsing on the floor. The effect was ruined by Emily snorting nearby, not even looking up from her magazine. “Just for that, I’m only going to leave Spitfire my dirty laundry. ”

“Pass.” Emily turned the page, then returned to gently brushing Elle’s hair with one hand. The blonde had been sleeping for the past hour, and even the muted sounds of car horns and shouting from outside the van hadn’t disturbed her. “Wait, on second thought, I can probably squeeze your sweat out of them and make a few bucks selling it as a sleep aid.”

“I wouldn’t recommend it. Remember what happened to the Merchants a few weeks ago?” Gregor put a small bookmark in what appeared to be a romance novel and wagged a finger at her. “While I’m not saying the Nine would come after you for getting into the drug game, I think we’d all prefer you avoided dipping your toes in that particular pool of water, Emily.”

“Ugh, don’t mention dipping toes in water!” Newter moaned, carefully throwing an arm over his eyes and playing up his misery. “Here we are at the best water park in the state, mere meters from cold water, hot babes, and awesome slides...and we’re not even allowed out of the van!”

“Hey, it’s not so bad.” Emily shrugged, then made a face as her mask released a pool of sweat down her face. She pulled it off, wiping both with a towel, then put the mask back on top of her head. “I mean, yeah it sucks having to sweat it out in the van, but those villains could show up any minute now. If we went outside, someone might snap a picture and toss it on social media.”

“Bullshit.” The word was sharper than Newter intended, and he saw her flinch. “What’s with all this ‘we’ crap? You, Shamrock, Elle, Melanie...all of you can walk around out there no problem.”

“Newter, I don’t think Emily meant it like that.” Gregor attempted to calm the waters, but this had been building throughout the day and the heat was making it hard for the orange-skinned cape to think straight. “Perhaps we should focus instead on the job-”

“Oh yeah, the job! How could I have forgotten about it?” Newter’s tone was mocking, and he began to talk in bad imitation of Faultline’s voice. “A group of villains escaped from PRT custody and tried to rent this park for a party, then told the owner they’d make him pay when he refused. The PRT would force him to close down the park, so he’s hiring us instead as guard dogs. I’ll patrol with Shamrock, and the rest of you should wait in the hot metal box in the parking lot.”

“Do you want me to open a window, or turn on the AC?” Emily’s voice was small, and if Newter hadn’t been so annoyed he’d have apologized. It had taken months to get her the level of confidence where she could speak her mind, wear fun clothes, and laugh…and he’d ruined it all in minutes. “I can...I can just...maybe Faultline will let us take a walk, cool off-”

“Oh yeah, I’m sure the Boss would love it if I just wandered around signing autographs, posing for selfies, and tipping the bad guys off with social media posts-”

“I have to go to the bathroom.” Elle’s voice cut in, and Newter wished he could have hugged her. His jaw closed with an almost audible click, and Emily quickly helped the other girl stand. Both moved to the back of the van, opening one of the doors and helping her step down. 

The door slammed with a certain sense of finality, and before Newter could explain himself- 

“ _ Shamrock checking in, 1600 hours and no sign of interlopers. _ ” A voice on the radio stopped him before he could apologize, and maybe that was for the best. The person Newter should have been talking to had already left, and Gregor looked like he had something to say.

“ _ Faultline here, I’ve spotted a suspicious tour bus, but it looks like the elderly driver is just lost. _ ” Wanting to make up for what he’d said, Newter snatched up the radio they’d been given and prepared to say something professional. Before he could, his latest screw up was shoved in his face by the Boss. “ _ Just saw Spitfire and Elle out of the van. Something wrong? _ ”

“That was my fault, I-” Newter paused, realizing that his sweaty hands had slipped off the radio’s button, and pressed it until it clicked. Before he could say a word, someone else was talking.

“ _Elle needed to go to the bathroom._ ” Emily’s voice sounded more confident than before, laughter in the background from people having fun. “ _By the way,_ _the AC in that van is really weak, boss. We need to get that fixed soon, or someone’s going to get heat stroke._ ”

As Faultline agreed to look into it, Newter set the radio on the floor with a shaking hand. Even after he’d let her have it with both barrels, Emily had tried to help him. He felt like a complete asshole, and Gregor seemed to realize that on some level.

The older man held off on lecturing Newter for a whole three minutes.

***

“I know that this has been a difficult couple of months for you. For all of us, really.” Gregor gave a small smile, one that took some of the sting out of his tone. “The battle against the ABB, our attack on the Merchants, the Slaughterhouse Nine’s attack, and more. I know this drive has been especially hard on you, with only water to cool off as the AC died on day one. Even with a drain in the floor for your sweat, your nerves must be pretty frayed by now. Faultline’s plan-”

“Look, I get it, Boss wanted to get out of town, and this job was on the way to that Wisconsin thing she talked about. But this has been building for a while, y’know?” Newter pretended to examine the tip of his tail, avoiding Gregor’s gaze. “Something had to give. Emily’s nice, but she just...doesn’t get it, you know? She hasn’t been here long, but something feels off about her.”

“She is still finding her place in our team, and so she is trying different roles to find the one that fits. I seem to recall a young, orange-skinned fellow who was once very serious and quiet, before he realized that...what was it?” Gregor put a finger to his chin, pretending that he couldn’t see Newter blushing slightly as the memory came back to him. “Ah yes, that none of us had a sense of humor worth a damn. Faultline was too serious, Elle too relaxed, and I was too wordy.”

“And I get that, I really do!” Newter stood, as if he was going to pace around, but then leaned against the wall and frowned. “I just don’t get why she’d want to be like me.”

“I think you know why.” The twitching of Newter’s tail stopped, as if to signal that his train of thought had hit upon an answer. “She looks at you, and sees someone who keeps a smile on his face even as the world bears down on him. A girl who spends as much time as she does reading fashion magazines, and you never stopped to think that she might care what others think of her? That she might be in awe of your ability to ignore their stares and remarks?”

The moment the words left his mouth, Gregor knew he’d made a mistake. Gregor and Newter were both Case 53s, mutated monsters in the eyes of most people. The others could just take off their costumes and have normal lives, but the two of them would always stand out. But despite his faux pas, Gregor was surprised to see a wry smile appear on Newter’s face.

“A few weeks ago, I actually asked Emily why she never had that whole, ‘stare at the freak’ period like most of the people we work with. Know what she said?” Gregor raised an eyebrow as the boy lifted both arms, flapping them slowly. “She said it was because she’d always liked fantasy movies as a kid. I reminded her of a majestic dragon, and that those books had always taught her that people like me were unique, magical, and worthy of respect.”

“A fairly kind way to look at it, I suppose.” Gregor chuckled, the very thought making him shake for a moment until he saw that Newter wasn’t joining him. “I’m guessing you disagreed?”

“Yeah, but I didn’t say it to her face. See, I kinda like fantasy stuff as well, and even spent some time reading that Encyclopedia of Mythical Creatures I...ah...borrowed from your library.” 

“I remember. That was the book that had a chimera on the cover.” Newter had seemed so happy when he was reading it, but now his face looked drawn and tired. “You said you were looking for something, but seemed so sad when you returned it. What did you find?”

“What Emily said about mythical creatures made me wonder if there was something like me in there. Silly, I know. But as I was flipping through it I found something called a Carcolh, kind of a snail creature with magical slime, and I thought of you.” He opened an eye, smirking slightly at Gregor, then closed it again. “So I kept looking, because there had to be something for me...”

Newter shuddered, despite the hot van, and crossed his arms. His face twisted up, as if recalling a particularly bad memory. Gregor wished, not for the first time, that he could hug the boy without needing protective clothing. But this was his story, his time to vent...his burden.

“People always stared at me, gawking like I was some freak at a sideshow, but then they’d realize I was looking back at them and just freeze. Not because they felt bad, but because they got caught.” Newter lifted a hand to his face, eyes opening as two fingers drew an imaginary line from his eyes to Gregor. “I wasn’t a dragon, majestic to look at...I was a basilisk.”

“Ah, the legendary reptile, also known as the Serpent King.” Gregor tried to smile, but found the expression melting off his face as Newter stared down at his hands. “But I’m guessing your focus was more on its lethal venom, prowess in battle, and a gaze that turned foes to stone.”

“Yep.” Newter flicked his fingers down, drops of sweat splashing on the van’s floor and moving towards the drain. There was a small reservoir under the van, a sealed container that sloshed a little from time to time. “Everyone I touch gets knocked out. People freeze when they realize I’m looking at them. Not in awe, like a glorious dragon, but in fear and disgust...that’s who I am.”

The van fell silent, and Gregor tried to think of some way to lift the mood. Something he could say that Newter hadn’t already heard a dozen times before. He had always tried to be there for the boy, one of the only people in his life who could truly understand his travails, but there was a limit to even that. They’d all been changed by the last few months, in ways nobody else could-

“But that’s why I’m so pissed off at myself now.” Newter growled, pacing back and forth, barely holding back from punching the wall of the van. “I’ve been through so much crap, and yet you guys stuck by my side through all of it. You and I have found people who have our backs, the closest thing we’ll ever have to an actual family, and that’s more than most people can say.”

Gregor realized with a start that those same travails had changed Newter as well. It was all he could do to keep the smile off his face, knowing it might ruin the moment. Instead he just watched as for once Newter chewed himself out, giving voice to the raging river of regret that rushed through him. Wisdom welling up from deep within his soul, splashing out of him.

Well, perhaps that was a bit too philosophical, considering the words that followed.

“I mean, family is kind of the closest word for what we are, isn’t it? Yeah, Emily and Elle are like my kid sisters, always up to mischief and messing with their big brother. Elle’s always making amazing art, and Em’s trying to find herself like any kid would.” Newter was probably lucky that neither was in the van with him at the moment. “You’re like the uncle, always having good advice and wisdom. Shamrock’s the hot aunt who’s a few years younger than you...”

Okay, Gregor was now tempted to huck a ball of sticky goo at Newter before the boy got any further. There was fun, and there was...well, some things went without saying. Before he could interrupt, the boy’s eyes swept down to the floor, as if afraid to speak. There was only one more member of their team, so it wasn’t hard to see why he was reluctant. He turned away, slightly...

“Faultline...Melanie...she’s probably the closest thing I’ll ever have to a Mom.” The boy’s voice was quiet, but then he whirled around suddenly. He waved his hands around as if he was a comic strip character, trying to erase a speech bubble before anyone saw it. Upon seeing Gregor’s incredulous stare, the orange boy groaned. “Look, don’t tell her I said it, but she really is like the mom of the group. She makes us clean our rooms, dress right, and so much more. Plus, she’s always doing stuff like this, trying to help us feel better and getting us outta trouble.”

It brought a tear to Gregor’s eye, and he was moments away from saying so. Luckily, before either could embarrass themselves, relief came in the most unlikely of forms.

Something exploded outside the van, and the sounds of laughter turned to panic.

Faultline’s voice came over the radio, and both leapt into action.

It was time to go to work.

***

“I still can’t believe you managed to catch all three of them.” The PRT officer shook his head, as if it was only an illusion that Starlet, Bambina, and August Prince were being loaded into separate vans. All three were unconscious, covered in Gregor’s goo, and wrapped in a mix of plastic and metal. “The girls I understand, but August has some kind of effect where people can’t even touch him. How’d you pull this off?”

“Sorry, trade secret. Now, I believe there was a reward for these three, since they escaped your custody almost a week ago?” Faultline’s voice was even, and the rest of them stood silently as the officer made a phone call. After a few minutes, he returned with a check for her, looking like it was painful handing the money over to her. “If he gets away again, feel free to call.”

It took everything Newter had to keep from bragging about his part in the plan. While it was true that August Prince was virtually untouchable, Faultline’s sources had discovered that the boy actually had a glaring weakness. One that she was happy to exploit, and would take to her grave before simply sharing with the PRT. Knowing them, they’d figure it out eventually.

They’d parked their van right by the park’s entrance, and left a fake fire hydrant at an angle just behind it. Faultline had connected a hose to a reservoir inside the van, filled over the last few days with Newter’s sweat. When the attack started, a mist came from the hydrant and “blocked” the park entrance, the civilians being routed to the back exits by Faultline and Shamrock. 

Meanwhile, Newter and Gregor occupied the three villains, Spitfire took out their getaway vehicle, and Labyrinth created nightmarish hazards to keep them from just running off. Once the civilians were gone, the team pulled back, and the trio of villains ran happily through the mist. A layer of Gregor’s slime just past the mist ensured all three stayed down until the PRT arrived.

“Hey Daniels, you want to ask the guy for an autograph or something?” One of the PRT agents had been staring at Gregor the whole time, and now he snapped to attention. After stuttering for a few moments and shaking his head, the man jogged off to join the others. “Sorry, he’s new.”

“It’s fine, we’re used to people admiring how majestic we are.” Newter flexed, preening as he saw a few eyes turn in his direction. His words from earlier were still fresh in his head, but it was hard to feel bad after an awesome battle like that. “Sure you don’t want an autograph? I’m pretty sure if you ask real nice, Gregor will even sign your-”

“No, I think we’re good here.” The lead agent frowned, probably thinking about that whole ‘drop a building on Chevalier’ thing from a while back. He headed for his team, all of whom hadn’t taken their hands off their weapons the entire time. The agent called out, “Stay out of trouble.”

Within moments, their team stood alone in the parking lot, the park patrons having long since left. The owner had gone off with the PRT, as well as his employees, a pile of paperwork ahead of them all. The attack had come late enough in the day that it had almost been a full day of business, and there were at least a few hours left before the sun went down completely.

“The owner has given us permission to use their showers to clean up.” Faultline began to lead them all towards the park, splitting off and heading towards the women’s side with the other three. She called over her shoulder, “Newter, would you mind meeting me inside the park, once you’re done cleaning up? I need to have a word with you.”

“Sure, Boss.” He sent a confused glance at Gregor, but the big man had already gone inside. Having a pretty good idea what this was about, Newter quickly washed the grime and asphalt off himself, then slipped into a pair of shorts Gregor had left out. Trudging towards the door, he pushed it open and found himself in awe at the park, the first time he’d actually been inside one. 

“Over here, Newter.” Faultline’s voice came at him from what looked like an outdoor cafe, and he trotted in her direction. It looked like some food had been left out, and he wondered for a brief moment if anyone would mind if he had a snack. Before he could ask, his jaw dropped open at the other sight before him. “Boss, what the...what the heck are you wearing?”

“Is it really that bad?” It wasn’t the first time he’d seen her in something other than business attire or her battle gear, but the halter top and sarong skirt just looked...wrong on Melanie. Her mask was gone, her hair in a simple ponytail, and she wore shades. “I heard that you were-”

“Boss, look if this is about what I said to Emily, I’m sorry about that.” He tried to recover from his shock, focusing on the past instead of the present. Melanie started to say something, but he held up a hand and kept going. “I said some things I really regret, and after everything she’s done to try and fit in with us I should have been more understanding. She’s a valuable member of the team, but more than that she’d kinda like family to me. I’ll apologize to her, I promise.”

“Good, but what I wanted to say was...thank you. Today you agreed to sit in a hot metal box all day and sweat into the drain in the floor, all because I told you to do it. We won today not just because you followed orders, but because you threw yourself into doing your part. Together, we took down a villain that the PRT was stumped by, and you were an integral part of that.”

Before he could respond, he heard applause from behind him and turned to see the rest of their team. Gregor wore a great big pair of swim trunks, Shamrock and Spitfire were in one-piece swimsuits, and Elle posed in a big shirt with Legend on it. “What the heck is going on?”

“Well, the owner gave us permission to use the park for cleaning up, and was kind enough to leave the slides and a few other attractions running.” Melanie stood, walking around the table and gesturing at the food and the park itself. “Since the place is all cleared out, we don’t have to worry about people gawking at us, and can just have fun for the night. Like a...family outing.”

“Wait, like a...what?” Newter felt heat rush to his cheeks as the others drifted away all of them smiling knowingly at him. He cleared his throat, hoping against all odds that it was just a coincidence. “I mean, that’s an interesting way to put it. Hey, Emily, before you go-”

“Aw, come on big brother, I promised Elle that I’d take her on the Twist Slide.” Emily was unable to contain her laughter. “Come on, Melanie told us that holding the radio’s button down and sliding it would lock it! But still...the things you said...that was really sweet, Newt. Thanks.”

“C’mon Uncle Gregor, Auntie Shamrock wants to ride on one of those tubes for two.” The redhead pulled her companion along by the hand, throwing a parting comment over her shoulder. “Thanks for calling me the hot aunt, by the way. Have fun talking with your mother.”

“Um, wait a second. Hey!” The four of them were gone, and he turned to see Melanie standing with her arms crossed. An inscrutable look was on her face, and he wondered what was running through her head. “Look, Melanie, I’m sorry if things got out of control, and I’m sorry if-”

“Stop apologizing. If you’re like my son, and I’m like your mother, then you have nothing to be sorry for.” She lay down on a nearby beach chair, a drink already in hand, and smiled at him. “You’re brave, smart, honest, kind, and always trying to help others feel better. Even though we might not share blood, you’re my family in every way that matters. I’m so proud of you, Newter.”

Newter found himself staring at the others as they played in the park. He saw Gregor and Shamrock holding hands as their inner tube floated away, and heard Elle laughing as Emily pretended to fall into the waterslide. From behind, Melanie assured him the chemicals in the water would dilute his sweat.

That was all the assurance he needed, and by the time Emily shot out of the slide and surfaced, he was already beside her. An orange tail tripped her, and she went back under the water with a gasp. When she came back up without a problem, he glanced over and saw Melanie smiling.

Soon they were splashing each other, like a real brother and sister. It didn’t matter that he was a Case 53, or that he’d lost the life he had before all this. His powers, his sweat, his orange skin...none of it mattered right now. 

All that mattered was that he had slides to go down, food to eat, and people who loved him. Later, he found himself lazily floating in an inflatable dragon in the pool, moon overhead.

This was the best night of his life, and he knew there were so many experiences ahead of him.

Some days he’d be a basilisk, stared at and mocked, feared and hated, a monster...

But other days he’d be a dragon, a majestic beast draped in glory and fame.

Just like everyone else, he’d play a myriad of parts as long as he lived.

With his family by his side, Newter planned to live a long time.

From above, Gregor shouted, “Cannonball!”

Well, maybe not.


End file.
